


Capital Silence

by PlaguedParadox



Series: The Silent Courier [6]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Good Karma Lone Wanderer, Non-Sexual Slavery, Post Fallout 3, Post-Canon, Pre New Vegas, Pre-Canon, Prequel, Slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-10 02:30:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15939941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlaguedParadox/pseuds/PlaguedParadox
Summary: A look into Pandora's past and how she got to be a slave for the Legion.





	Capital Silence

The Capital Wasteland, home to two large factions which wanted nothing more than to be rid of the other. The Enclave and the Brotherhood of Steel. The Enclave were not nice individuals, get too close and you’ll end up with plasma and lasers chasing after you, the Brotherhood were nicer out of the two if you didn’t annoy them - they actually tried to help people. The Brotherhood in general were notorious for their purist - practically racist against anyone who wasn’t human -  values, sense of duty and want to hide, preserve and protect pre war technology but those in the Capital were different thanks to the current Elder of that chapter. While the Enclave had their scientists and their officers, the Brotherhood had their initiates, scribes and paladins. This story follows a certain initiate, Initiate Reed - or Vera Reed as her full name went - who was typically found tinkering with things or running around helping scribes when she wasn’t training, something she’d both despise and be utterly thankful for years later. The initiate was known for the cut on the top of her nose, her talkative nature and her lilac coloured hair which made her an easy target, so she was typically used as bait by the paladins when they took her somewhere other than around the area surrounding the Citadel. The woman was barely in her teen years when she found herself being taken in by the Brotherhood as she was an orphan, her parents being murdered by the Enclave once they accidentally got too close while scavenging. Her father was deaf so didn’t hear their warnings in time and her mother wasn’t armed that well to protect the both of them. Now the woman was in her mid to late twenties and felt more ready to take on the hostile wastes that claimed her beloved parents. 

Vera was once again running errands for the scribes and paladins, running paperwork and bits of power armour everywhere that was needed. Things had been hectic as of late due to the arrival of some new people, one of them being a vault dweller strangely enough. Three Dog had spoken of the dweller before, people dubbed the kid the Lone Wanderer. Vera hadn’t seen the kid yet but she knew he was barely 19 and looking for his missing father, her heart ached when she heard that as she still missed her parents dearly. The initiate sighed to herself as she dropped off another piece of power armour for some of the scribes to fix up. ‘Paladins need to take better care of their stuff.’ The tired woman thought with a huff as she wandered around the lab. Liberty Prime was in the middle, a dramatic centerpiece but he was only like that because he wasn’t working yet. The initiate turned sharply around and yelped when she landed into someone’s chest, a yelp in response caused her to look up at a young man staring down at her, a curious tilt in his head as his black hair went everywhere. “Sorry ma’am, I wasn’t paying attention!” He chuckled out, scratching at his stubble nervously. The young man wasn’t used to facial hair as he was fairly regular in trimming it when it did show up but that was when he was living in the vault. “That’s a fine robot, huh? I’d love to try and get it to work! Ah! Where are my manners? My name is Carter but most just call me 101 because of my vault suit.” The Wanderer chirped out, sticking his hand out towards the woman.

“I’m Vera Reed, an initiate so I won’t be much use for your mission to find your father, I’m afraid.” The initiate apologised as she shook his hand firmly. “And yeah, Prime is a pretty fine robot. Nice Pip-Boy, by the way, I’m surprised to see one intact.” The two spoke about their knowledge of RobCo for a small while before the woman was given more tasks to do around the Citadel. That was the last time they saw each other before the battle for the Purifier. Vera didn’t fight, she couldn’t bring herself to, she had spotted an officer she had gone soft for a while ago in the midst of the battle, she hadn’t trained herself to look over emotions when it came to fighting an enemy, and instead fled into the more built up parts of the Capital, hiding from both Talon mercs and paladins alike as she made her way across the buildings, preferring to stay high up so she was harder to spot. The only problem she had were the super mutants that seemed to be in almost every building. The woman ran and weaved through one of the large ruined buildings, gunfire tailing her as a super mutant master tried their hardest to chase her down but her high stamina gave her an advantage over the mutated being as she could run around for ages even if she didn’t know where she was going. Jumping and pulling herself up into the floor above thanks for a collapsed hole in the previous floor’s ceiling, the woman continued to run before finding a small office space and hiding behind one of the old desks. 

The woman panted as quietly as she could as she tried to catch her breath, cursing to herself as she lost her gun several floors below where she had initially met the mutant that now was hunting her down. Vera hated that she was so clumsy but thinking of a way to escape was more of a priority at the time. Sounds of yelling and more gunfire sounded out before footsteps flooded into the room from the office’s other entranceway and stopped to take cover at the desk opposite her. The ex-initiate tilted her head at the person in power armour that had more scuffs and dents than she could count. “Fawkes, help a buddy out, will ya?!” The possible paladin cried out as more bullets cascaded towards him from the doorway. Soon the bullets died down after the sound of a gatling laser filled the area. “Thanks, bud!” The man cried out before yanking his helmet off and gazed around. “Oh, I didn’t see you there! Aren’t you Initiate Reed?” The woman nodded in response, shock silenced the woman as she was yanked into an uncomfortable hug. “I thought I lost you at the battle! Ha! Told you my friends were hardy, Charon! Ya practical mute…” Carter muttered out before pulling the woman with him towards his companions which consisted of a ghoul, a super mutant and a dog. “Here’s the gang!” He giggled out rather childishly, pulling the woman into another hug, this time being a side hug which pinned her to his side. “The super mutant is Fawkes, he’s awesome. The ghoul is Charon, he’s not much of a talker and the lovely pup is Dogmeat, he’s super helpful. Guys, this is Vera, she’s really knowledgeable about RobCo tech!” 

Vera stayed with the group for a while, about a year if she could recall correctly, learning and teaching from and to the Wanderer that practically became like a younger brother to her. She taught him about tech and he taught her about science and medicine, little tricks and tips about survival and the like. The two occasionally went to visit those at Little Lamplight, sharing their stories with the children there but mostly the mayor.  “I remember one time, before I became an initiate, I ran into a large area full of buildings to hide from some raiders as they were looking for people to collect and I found myself in this huge building that I couldn’t recognise, wandered around the area for ages before a group of scavengers found me knocked out and surrounded by broken down protectrons, apparently while I was looking around, the raiders had found me and began shooting at me, accidentally setting off the bots. You can guess the rest. But yeah, turns out there was a former paladin in the group and he carried me to the Citadel, used his status to get me a place in the Brotherhood.” The group were huddled around a fire, the little mayor MacCready was curled up against Carter as Vera told stories from her time as an orphan and the child of scavengers. The stories were usually interrupted by the mayor’s comments which usually was something vulgar which Carter would scold him for even though he knew the young lad wouldn’t listen to a ‘mungo’ like him. There were a few times were the children of Little Lamplight would mess up and accidentally call the pair either brother or sister to which they’d receive plenty of hugs but due to their time with the mayor, he seemed to be the one most likely to accidentally let it slip. Carter was quick to accept the boy as his honorary little brother. 

The group of friends went all over the Capital Wasteland, running into various groups from a band of Chinese soldiers that were still around to a group of cannibals that thought they were vampires. They took out members of Talon and dealt with Tenpenny, got Dave’s Republic to have a new leader, and even helped a group called the Railroad help hide a synth. Of course, there were times when what they did was more dangerous than not, like being abducted by aliens or becoming seriously radiated so a cult mistook them for their messiah. Vera had known that her home was an odd place but the more she travelled with her friends, the more she found out just how greatly she underestimated just how messed up everything was. Things got worse after they met up with the Outcasts, some newer members recognising the initiate and practically tried forcing her to join them. “No, I’m not with the Brotherhood anymore, Outcast or otherwise!” She would yell, her allegiance was to the Capital and the group that protected it better than any of the main factions could. The woman sighed as she watched her friend who was currently stuck in a simulation, she had practically beaten away several Outcasts who knew her but it was only a matter of time before they let the older members know who she was. Her eye twitched slightly as yet another member of the group walked in, another inquiry as to how far alone the Wanderer was before turning their attention to her.

It took a few hours for Carter to be done with the simulation, but the air turned weird as the pair slowly made their way over to where all the items were, they were told to wait for a few of the higher members but it was easy to tell that some of the Outcasts weren’t going to be entirely pleased that the strangers got to take some of the loot. The Lone Wanderer silently encouraged his friend as they stepped into the room. Carter was quick to notice and pick up the gauss rifle while Vera picked up the stealth suit and sword, she could be deadly silent when she needed to be so she figured the stealth stuff was better but when the pair heard fighting, they picked the room clean and rushed out of there. After several hours of testing out the gauss rifle, all members of the group agreeing that using is the best thing for them. Carter giggled as fragments of a can he had just shot flew up in the air, before shooting the fragments as target practice. The others watched on happily, grateful for the small break being on the outskirts of Megaton would allow them. Vera stroked Dogmeat gently, the poor pooch having to deal with a small run-in with some mole rats but he was patched up and doing fine, he was just a bit sore. Fawkes and Charon decided to join in with the target practice, the group only stopping after Sheriff Simms left the town to tell them off about the noise.

The pair made their way over to Vault 108, Carter had started a Vault Boy Bobblehead collection so he decided to scavenge around the old vaults to see if he could find some more, remembering that his first one was in his dad’s office while they were in the vault. But the pair came to a stop while exploring a vault when the spotted a man in a vault suit only saying Gary, Vera was quick to suggest they leave, having learnt that people in the vaults weren’t always better off than those living outside, and usually that meant mentally. Carter shook it off and went to greet the strange man, only for him to start being attacked by the weird man, after a few bullet rounds they noticed the swarming voices collectively say “Gary” grow louder and louder as the clones drew near, the pair stood and fought the swarm of Garys with the opinion of that they needed to do it just in case the swarm of clones left the vault and laid waste to the wasteland. It was an exaggeration of the clones abilities but the pair agreed that they couldn’t take any chances when it came to the strange men. Eventually Carter found the bobblehead and lead them both far away from the vault, throwing a bunch of grenades behind him in the hopes it would collapse the entrance as a precautionary method because they didn’t know if more Garys were around and if the Garys could produce more clones, he could only remember that he saw a Gary at the Outcast base.

Vera and Carter were huddled around yet another fire, this time closer to the heart of the Capital wasteland as they prepared to make their way to Point Lookout. Carter had been there once before, but his experience there mostly involved a ghoul in a mansion but shortly after saving the ghoul he realised he lacked ammo and decided to head back to the mainland for a bit. Desmond had all the time in the world to wait for the Wanderer. Fawkes was at the museum taking a small break, Charon was fast asleep and Dogmeat was curled up by the ghoul’s side. Carter yawned into his hand, the now 20 year old had barely slept a wink, usually taking the spot of lookout so his friends could rest easy. Vera looked at the young man and sighed. “Get some rest, kid. I’m still very much awake.” The woman said, patting the young Pride member’s head gently, watching as he softly nodded and curled up under an old blanket given to him by one of the Lamplighters. She gave Carter a small smile before standing up, preparing Carter’s gauss rifle, she loved the way the gun fired and she was always better with long ranged weapons as she found out from her many years of training. About an hour past before the crunching sound of boots on rubble caught her attention, from the sound she could tell it was more than one person, or creature so she decided to check it out. Dogmeat would alert the others if whatever it was got too close. 

The former initiate slowly made her way through the ruins, making sure she didn’t wander too far away from camp. The woman sighed as she checked the area with her scope, the dark making it annoying to see figured moving. The sound of crunching against the ground behind her caught her attention, causing her to swing around before the butt of a rifle slammed into her face, knocking the woman out and sending her crashing to the ground, her head narrowly missing a rock. 

Vera woke up to the sound of talking and people sobbing quietly, the woman groaned as she lifted herself up and sat up on her haunches, just as she had been doing for a few years now. She had been sold and traded between raiders and slavers, used for manual labour and forced to be an unwilling soldier for them. The woman bit her lip to muffle the pained sound that left her lips, her stomach begging for food, as her hand rubbed her face, trying to wake up more. Her eyes scanned the area to see herself stuck in a cage, something she had grown used to, it just meant she was being sold to someone else again, but what was new was the orange, brown and yellow backdrop of what she’d find out to be the Mojave desert. Vera’s eyes looked over to the raiders that currently owned her to see them discussing payment with people that looked like walking museum exhibit.  Her face twisted into a dirty look as the men in red walked beside the cage, glancing at the people inside before their eyes fell on the lilac haired woman. 

The cage opened with a horrid screech, making the other slaves panic and shift backwards but Vera held her ground, her glare on the men in front of her never wavering, not even as they wrapped a collar around her neck, nearly cutting off her ability to breath with how tight they made it. She could already feel the thing dig into her skin, cutting the flesh in her neck up as she was yanked out of the cage and forced to walk behind several members of the walking museum pieces, the occasional hard tug of her new leash making her cough violently as the material ripped further into her neck. Vera eyed the knife attached to the hip of one of the men. 

 

‘All in due time, Vera. All in due time.’

 


End file.
